ABSTRACT: What sparks environmental policy leadership? Traditional explanations emphasize the importance of domestic interest groups and institutions but often overlook transnational actors that advocate for the adoption and spread of environmental policies. In this paper, I provide a new dataset on the adoption of environmental policies and develop a new definition of environmental policy leadership. I then show how transnational environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) use their advocacy to stimulate countries' policy innovation and amplify their influence. I find that countries adopt new environmental policies at a 46% higher rate when more transnational ENGOs are present and countries that share more transnational ENGOs are 24% more likely to form leader-follower policymaking relationships. Transnational ENGOs appear to play an important role in catalyzing increases in national environmental policy leadership.

The primary function of this workshop is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for students and faculty to present their current projects and to receive feedback on either the methodological component of their project or a methodology under development. Presenters can also present new research questions and ideas and receive ideas about which methodologies would work best to tackle such questions. We define methodology broadly as the approaches to which data is collected and/or organized to give empirical content to social science research. It includes both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.

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